OIL & GAS PIPELINES IN NONTECHNICAL LANGUAGE

If some veteran natural gas pipeline operators moved over to an oil pipeline, they would scratch their heads in wonderment about the different variables, controls, customer requirements, and alarm bells. But aside from operations, oil and natural gas pipelines look essentially the same, perform the same service, and obey the same laws of physics. They are installed in largely the same manner and face the same regulatory and social dilemmas. But that does not mean they all use the same nomenclature. Such differences in nomenclatures can occur concerning natural gas pipelines versus oil pipelines, and crude oil pipelines versus refined products pipelines. Making life easier, operations of some types of pipelines are more or less indistinguishable from oil pipelines operations. These include chemical liquids pipelines, natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipelines. On the other side, pipelines that move anhydrous ammonia, carbon dioxide, and gaseous chemicals like ethylene operate much like natural gas pipelines...